Shattering
by HarunoKasumi
Summary: " ... Then after the campfire, he—he kissed me good night, went back to his cabin, and in the morning, he was gone." Just another story about Annabeth finding out that Percy was gone. Little oneshot written in the middle of the night. Go on and hit me xD


**I don't own any of the characters, so hail Rick Riordan! :D**

**A/N:**_ Hey guys :) Quick thing I did tonight, probably took me an hour or so but I had to get it out of my system. I'll work on the next chapter of my Son of Neptune story tomorrow, now I'll definitely sleep first (it's 3 AM) x_x_

_**Please enjoy! :3  
**_

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**Shattering**

Annabeth sighed and let go of Percy's neck.

"What?" he laughed silently and pulled away from her lips, smiling at her with that half grin she loved so much.

"Nothing." She just lied and stroked through his hair. They were standing in front of her cabin and he was just kissing her good night. Winter break had just started and after their dating period this summer and fall, she was overwhelmingly happy to see him again for hopefully full two weeks. The reason she had sighed was because this day had flown by so fast, as if time was mocking her on purpose. Percy now just shook his head and kissed her again, his lips were warm and tasted like the sea as always. Annabeth wasn't even sure if he was aware he even _tasted_ like his father's home surf. Probably not. But it didn't matter, the blonde would just keep silently enjoying it.

"Well then, sleep tight. I suppose we shouldn't provoke Chiron on the first night of winter break?" Percy asked when he finally let go of her lips reluctantly. He raised an eyebrow and studied her face as if he wanted to read the answer from her eyes. Oh, he was being cocky again. Annabeth smiled and shook her head, punching his chest slightly. Of course it didn't even hurt him but she still kept doing it.

"Don't be so cocky. No, we shouldn't do that. I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast, you'll survive a few hours without me." She grinned and Percy returned it.

"You sure?" he asked and that only made the architect roll her eyes at him, hugging him.

"Good night, Seaweed Brain." She murmured into his shoulder. During the summer after the war, they had spent many nights in Percy's cabin alone. It had taken some time until one morning, Chiron had walked in on them and all Hades broke lose at camp, the girls from Aphrodite starting rumors about whatever they may have done in there and Chiron giving Annabeth and Percy a _really_ awkward lecture. That was the reason she wanted to keep the Centaur at peace for now, even if she liked spending the night in his arms just too much.

"Good night, wise girl. See you tomorrow." He whispered, returning her hug and then kissing her forehead before turning around. Annabeth kept standing there as he walked away, deep in thought but also maybe slightly staring at him. They shared a last smile when he turned his head again and the son of Poseidon waved at her before he opened the door to his own cabin.

Twelve hours later, she could have hit herself for not coming with him.

Of course, when climbing into her own bed, she hadn't suspected a thing. Why would she? Ever since the war, there was peace and this was Camp, what could happen? Her grey eyes quickly closed as her siblings around her were already getting ready for bed too, one even asking why she wasn't going with Percy tonight, a broad grin on her face. She ignored her half-sister and just smiled, turning her back to them and forcing sleep to fall upon her.

Even though she had been so happy today, her sleep was awfully dark and gloomy. She didn't know why but a creepy feeling was haunting her in her sleep, even before she said good night to Percy outside, it had been there, bugging her from the inside. It made no sense, everything was fine until a few weeks ago, when the gods fell silent. They still didn't have any explanation for that but beside the fact that their parents wouldn't answer, she didn't have that strange feeling. The war was over, so why…she didn't understand what it meant. And a daughter of Athena hated not to understand.

In her dreams, it was haunting her even more. She was having visions of places she'd been, some of them she didn't even want to remember. Mount Othrys, Mount St. Helens, Olympus in ashes. It was always empty, always spooky, making her roll around in her slumber.

When morning came, Annabeth was a mess. She carefully combed her hair in font of the mirror but she still found rings under her eyes and for the first time she wished she needed glasses like some of her siblings, they would hide the rings at least a little bit. Frustrated, she made faces at herself and hoped Percy wouldn't question her about it. Unfortunately, he was often having nightmares too, he probably was guessing why she looked like this and would be the first to ask what she dreamed about. So she just smiled at the thought of the worried face he would make and made her way to the pavilion, leading her siblings.

The first thing that appeared odd to her was that Percy wasn't already at his table. Knowing her boyfriend though, he had just put down his alarm clock too often and snore on until it rang again, forcing him to move his lazy butt. But Breakfast passed and Percy still wasn't there. This was indeed unusual because even if he was lazy, Percy would never miss his breakfast. He could swallow an army of pancakes in the morning, Annabeth had seen him do it, he loved to make the first meal on his day gigantic and even if he missed the alarm, it was unlikely for him to miss the whole repast.

"Morning, Chiron. Have you seen Percy?" she walked up to her teacher on table twelve and a frown was planted to her face. Chiron's face soon turned similar and he shook his head.

"No, my dear, I haven't. So you weren't sleeping over again? Good…" he said, a serious look on his face while Annabeth had a hard time hiding her blush.

"Well then, you should maybe go looking for him, he has to teach a sword fighting class in about an hour." He finally said, managing a small smile which saved the blonde from further embarrassment. She nodded and then quickly fled from there since some Satyrs had given her strange looks at the Centaur's words. Grover wasn't present at the moment, he was still taking care of things in the Central Park, where obviously help was needed for the nature spirits. Nico was off in his father's domain again and of course, Thalia was with the hunters, so technically, there was nobody around who Percy could be with this early in the morning. She finally made her way over to Cabin three alone and impatiently knocked at the door.

"Percy, wake up. You already missed breakfast." She said and waited for him to groan as an answer, telling her to go away and let him sleep another five minutes. He'd have his hair in a rats nest and smile at her sleepily when she would force him to stand up, explaining that he had to go help blackjack last night and forgot to turn on his alarm clock. Oddly enough, no answer came. The next thing she noticed was that the door was already open, simply leaning against the locker. Her grey eyes became slits and her hands automatically wandered to her knife. Something was not right…she could feel it. Gulping, she pulled out her weapon and pushed open the door. It was completely dark in the cabin, nobody had lifted the curtains yet and when Annabeth turned on the lights, nobody was to be seen as well.

Percy's bunk was empty but there was no sign of any struggle, he had apparently just walked out of bed by himself. Annabeth searched his bunk and the table for a note but there was nothing there. Slowly, panic began to rise in her chest. Memories flooded her mind from the time he went with Nico before the war, diving into the Styx without even informing her of that plan. Or that time he almost got himself killed in that volcano…

_No, Annabeth, calm down. He's fine. There's no need to worry. He probably just went for a midnight swim again, maybe a difficult task in the sea…or maybe he's pulling a prank on you. _She nodded to her own argument and slowly took a few calm breathes, trying to comfort herself.

"Percy? Are you in here? This isn't funny okay, you have to teach sword fighting in an hour, you need to get ready for the day." She said and looked around, silently hoping for him to pop out from behind the door or something like that.

She pulled over the whole cabin from head to toe, her own arguments not valid anymore because her worry was constantly rising. When she ran out of his cabin, her eyes were unsettled and her hair was a mess because she was driving her fingers through it constantly. Ignoring the questions from some Aphrodite kids about her messed up hair and if Percy had something to do with it, Annabeth rushed for the stables. She panted when she got there but she reached Blackjack's booth and was devastated when she saw him there. This meant he wasn't rescuing some sea creature, at least not with Blackjack. One opportunity down.

The other possibilities for Percy to be also dropped when she looked in the sword arena, all the other cabins –she got strange looks again but completely ignored them-, again the dining pavilion, the big house, even the archery fields. Of course she checked the beach and the lake first, also some of his favorite places. Again, her search bore no fruit at all.

"Damn it, what's happening…this can't be…" she muttered as it was slowly sinking in. Percy wasn't here… he was nowhere to be found at Camp. She asked all the people she met during her search, none had seen him this morning, not even the ones from the cabins near him or any Nymph for the matter. Knowing Percy, there was still a microscopic hope that he was sitting in the lake or taking a swim in the sea at night because he couldn't sleep or something. Still, this feeling in her gut told her otherwise.

Her chest already aching with worry, she went up to the big house again, running into the room when Chiron was just talking to Katie Gardner from Demeter. She panted heavily and glanced up at her teacher. In a weak moment, she felt her eyes watering but managed to whip the tears away quickly. Still, Chiron saw her distraught composure and frowned.

"What happened, Annabeth?" he asked and his face fell a little. He had raised so many heroes, the Centaur probably always thought the worst.

"I-It's Percy, Chiron. I-I just can't find him anywhere. He's just not there, I…" she quickly lost her voice but seeing as Katie was still there, looking at her with a bewildered look on her face, Annabeth had to keep herself together. No matter how irritated she was, nobody had to see her weak like this. She had feared for Percy's life more than once. But this time it was different…he had been at camp, save and sound just yesterday, something had to have happened to him, there was almost no way around it. Chiron saw how down she was and bit his lower lip. He seemed to think about something but Annabeth could see he was also worried deeply but tried to keep his cool.

"Maybe he's with one of his friends for an immediate situation. You should call them, Annabeth, maybe they know something." He said and then smiled at her reassuringly. Even if he said that, he still seemed nervous, stepping out of his wheelchair and walking out of the room. Annabeth had to suppress a snort. As if she hadn't considered that already. But even if it was immediate, wouldn't Percy have gotten her? No matter the situation, they always fought together and if it wasn't something under water, he would surely take her with him. So why? Why was he nowhere to be found?

So even though she didn't quite believe in It, she still called her friends. Her iris message wasn't able to reach Nico but she still got Thalia and Grover, telling them about what happened. She even tried to call Sally, catching her at home but when she asked if her son was home, the brunette was just irritated, saying that she thought he was with Annabeth. Immediately, Sally seemed worried. Annabeth told her he was probably fine and she was just checking but the daughter of Athena knew that she wasn't quite convincing, considering the way she looked and how her voice kept cracking at times.

When she finally left the Iris cabin, her chest felt empty and her stomach was acting as if she was sick. Her slow feet carried her across the meadow and to Cabin three, where she dropped on Percy's bed and hid her face in his pillow. The blue fabric smelled like him, like his hair and she took it in as if it was her drug. The news sank into her brain like acid burning its way through her veins.

Percy Jackson was missing from the surface of this planet. Even Iris wasn't able to locate him. She had tried five times. She would have done it more often if Butch hadn't stopped her, grabbing her wrist when she was just about to smash the fountain out of frustration.

Tears were daring to escape her but she held them back. She was not going to give in to tears. H-he would surely be fine…somehow. Her mind was numb, and for a daughter of Athena, that meant something grave had happened. And that's what it was, grave. Heartbreaking. Distressing. She felt her hopes shattering, her heart falling apart into little pieces, unable to hold them together, not after last summer, not after what she'd been through. She couldn't lose Percy as well. Ever since they met, he was her anchor, her tower of strength.

Annabeth just lay there, silent as a stone and her insides broken. Her Seaweed Brain was gone without a trace and she didn't have a clue what was going on.

Without her being able to control it, the first drop of salt water hit Percy's pillow and a sob broke the quiet air of cabin three, the cabin that was now without any occupant.

The person inside the only used bed was now simply…

…_shattering._

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**Yeah. That's it. As always, please tell me what you think! :3**_  
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